Mending Northeast Ohio's broken bones

Maybe the most fundamental factor to keeping the region’s rebound going is the health of its infrastructure.

Much of Northeast Ohio’s infrastructure is concealed in the form of underground pipes that carry drinking water, storm water and waste water to and from industry, businesses and homes. That leaves it to the bridges and roads to provide a hint of the conditions below. In parts of this region, the wear and tear is disturbing. “Everybody agrees (repairs) are necessary, but the will to pay for them isn’t always there,” said Norb Delatte, chairman of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Cleveland State. Still, all is not gloomy as some big-ticket projects buoy spirits. Residents and business owners cheered in 2013 as the Ohio Department of Transportation opened the first of two new Innerbelt bridges. When a companion structure is completed this fall, five lanes of traffic will move freely in each direction through downtown, and Cleveland will have a pair of shiny symbols of rejuvenation at a cost of $566 million. “It was the number one priority of our administration,” said Ken Silliman, Mayor Frank Jackson’s chief of staff. And a new road is coming. The West Shoreway along Lake Erie is being remade into a picturesque boulevard to improve access to Lake Erie. Although the $41 million conversion will not be finished until 2018, the project has spawned a combined $150 million in housing developments to the south. “It was the promise that created that environment,” said Jenny Spencer, managing director of the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization. Summit County is not left out. Later this year, ODOT will start reconstruction of Interstate 76 south of downtown Akron, work that Allen Biehl, ODOT’s District 4 deputy director said, “will reinvent the gateway into downtown Akron.” Joe Roman, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, applauds the projects and adds another that will have impact — the $331 million Opportunity Corridor project destined to link the end of Interstate 490 at East 55th Street in Cleveland with University Circle. He said the corridor will pass through an urban core ripe for investment in housing, parkland and business. The big projects mask in a way basic defects in the region’s infrastructure such as potholes that jar commuters on their routes to work and basements that flood after storms. There is a lot to ponder in this region, faced with a dwindling return of dollars from the state and where tax increases are sought in growing numbers by local communities. In an ironic twist, eight Cuyahoga County city governments sued the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District in 2013 after the agency slapped on user fees to pay for a nearly $3 billion, 25-year project to reduce the amount of sewer water that flows into the lake by four billion gallons a year. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered the remedy. Last fall, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected the suit. The $35 quarterly household rate hikes will show up again on July bills. “You talk about roads and bridges, all that goes toward commerce and economic development,” said Julius Ciaccia, CEO of the sewer district. “In our case, it also supports the environment.” He warned more fixes are needed. Lines carrying sewage from homes to the agency’s interceptor are a community’s responsibility. Many are cracked, and storm water rushes in during heavy rains. Akronites already feel the pain of the EPA crackdown. The $1.4 billion cost of the correction there has spurred a 269% increase in user fees since 2010. Another hike is scheduled in 2021, said Chris Ludle, the city’s deputy service director. The 2014 water scare in Toledo, and the embarrassment in Flint, Mich., where residents were drinking water containing lead and other toxins, raised concerns whether those things can happen here. Darnell Brown, Mayor Jackson’s chief operating officer, said the city spent $650 million over 15 years on its water department, mainly for maintenance and improvements at the four treatment plants. Chief of Staff Silliman described the water system as “probably our strongest competitive advantage.” Officials maintain Cleveland is less vulnerable to the problem that befell Toledo when toxic algal bloom made tap water undrinkable for three days. Cleveland sits off a deeper basin of Lake Erie and its water intake points are at least three miles offshore. And Flint? Brown said Lake Erie is a superior water source than what Flint used and Cleveland puts the orthophosphate into its water to protect the inside of pipes from corrosion. Meanwhile, studies have long given mediocre ratings to the condition of bridges and roads around the nation. The surfaces in Northeast Ohio reflect those reports. Michael Dever, Cuyahoga County’s public works director, said 20% of the county’s bridges are close to needing major work or replacement. Among the prominent structures is one on Hilliard Boulevard straddling Rocky River and Lakewood. “We basically have been putting Band-Aids on it,” Dever said. The county will determine soon if the bridge can be repaired. If not, even with 80% funding from outside sources, the county’s share of the estimated $50 million cost of a new span would wipe out a year’s bridge repair budget, Dever said. Cleveland seeks outside money for its road program. A problem here: No outside money is available for residential streets, which fall victim to the area’s freeze and thaw winter weather cycle just as the more traveled roads do. Brown said the administration and City Council want to resurface all city streets over 20 years, working on the worst first. They hope to commit $10 million a year to get it done. But getting that amount of money into the program has been a challenge in its early years.